Similar to Clair de Musc?

My boyfriend LOVED Serge Lutens Clair de Musc - I had tried it on while visiting Mecca Cosmetica in the city. He normally doesn't comment on my perfume, and I think he finds my new obsession a little strange. This is the first time he's really loved any scent I've worn. He even said "It really suits you."

The trouble is, I didn't really care for Clair de Musc. I found the topnotes unpleasant and artificial. Soon it changed into quite a lovely scent, but not a very interesting one. I mean, it's just a sweet, light musk smell. Overall I liked it, but I wouldn't pay Serge Lutens prices for it.

Can you recommend anything similar (ie. musky, but not too dark and animalic) that is either more interesting or less expensive?

It would be great to have at least *one* bottle of something he really likes... :P

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

I haven't tried Clair de Musc (I have to go to Mecca Cosmetica sometime soon!!!), but there are a couple of fragrances which sound like they might be similar or an alternative - though I can't be sure without trying the Lutens scent...

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Narciso for Her, it 's not as soft and refined but it has more character also cheaper
also test Fleurs de Citronnier, the soft musk of Clair de Musc with a regressive smooth lemony tuberose

Clair de Musc is also my boyfriend 's favorite fragrance that I wear with Fleurs d 'Oranger. Men love women who wear light florals or soft clean scents, sexy for them for them is young, fresh, feminine. I also get a lot of compliments with Clair de Musc and it always amazes me to get compliments long hours after I thought it "gone" on my skin.
In comparaison the sexual Musc Ravageur rarely gets me compliments, for men it 's too bold, animalic and heady, before anyone says anything lol some do love it but the majority of men would rather their girlfriends and wives wear Clair de Musc.

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Narciso for Her, it 's not as soft and refined but it has more character also cheaper
also test Fleurs de Citronnier, the soft musk of Clair de Musc with a regressive smooth lemony tuberose

Clair de Musc is also my boyfriend 's favorite fragrance that I wear with Fleurs d 'Oranger. Men love women who wear light florals or soft clean scents, sexy for them for them is young, fresh, feminine. I also get a lot of compliments with Clair de Musc and it always amazes me to get compliments long hours after I thought it "gone" on my skin.
In comparaison the sexual Musc Ravageur rarely gets me compliments, for men it 's too bold, animalic and heady, before anyone says anything lol some do love it but the majority of men would rather their girlfriends and wives wear Clair de Musc.

And even more would prefer if their girlfriends / wives wore neither!!!

Such sweeping generalisations are not really that helpful. They just perpetuate the negative stereotypes that limit us all. As with fashion, a man will have his personal taste regardless of current fashions but will 'adapt' his preference to what women are emphasizing at the time.

My SO happens to be marketedly younger than me and even though he goes doolally for musk dominated scents, SL Clair du Musc left him decidely cold. His favourites on me are Guerlain Shalimar, TBS Japanese Musk, GuerlainAA Winter Delice and Gres Cabochard among others - hardly what is considered 'young' or 'fresh'.

A man's preferences depend upon his personal history, preferences, and associations with individual scents - but ultimately it is the woman herself who is the deciding factor in what a man prefers...

Clare - It sounds like you boyfriend, like my own, likes white, slightly floral musks with a touch of aldehydes (for greater diffusion / sillage) and a touch of 'dirrty' in the base - so don't pick anything too clean. You could check out:

Ava Luxe has many more musks that you can explore. You are bound to find at least one that you both love. You can buy samples and Serena provides great customer service. Drop her an email and she should be able to help you find something that works for both of you.

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by moondeva

And even more would prefer if their girlfriends / wives wore neither!!!

Such sweeping generalisations are not really that helpful. They just perpetuate the negative stereotypes that limit us all. As with fashion, a man will have his personal taste regardless of current fashions but will 'adapt' his preference to what women are emphasizing at the time.

My SO happens to be marketedly younger than me and even though he goes doolally for musk dominated scents, SL Clair du Musc left him decidely cold. His favourites on me are Guerlain Shalimar, TBS Japanese Musk, GuerlainAA Winter Delice and Gres Cabochard among others - hardly what is considered 'young' or 'fresh'.

you live in england, european men are more daring, this is about my own experience with american men, young or older and any ethnicity, I always get compliments wearing clean white musk like Clair de Musc or a sexy fruity floral like Fleurs d 'Oranger or Rose Barbare.

Classic perfumes or more daring perfumes don 't perform good at all with american men but of course there are exceptions, and when these exceptions do occur because I am very fortunate to live in New York that offers such a level of diversity and lifestyle it 's always coming from ethnic men!
The only guys who ever complimented me on my Bois et Fruits/Musc were persian and latin, the only guy who loved Tubereuse Criminelle on me was a cuban guy I was dating for a while and the two guys who gave me best compliments for Musc Ravageur were black.

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Well, all modern musks are synthetic anyway, so we can bypass this point swiftly and just suggest something you will find more pleasing.

Clair de Musc is very nice, a light vegetal musk, "clean". However I agree with your assesment that maybe it's too much money for what it is.

I suggest the following for a nice, light, clean abstract musk:

Do a search also on egyptian and white musks from etailers, they're hundreds!

I agree with you both - it's not different enough. I think you could get a nice musk for drugstore prices and your boyfriend will probably like these too.

To me Clair de Musc is more of a powdery musk rather than white. The white musk is a bit more metallic and "clean" smelling. I think that the Japanese Musk (from the body shop) is more close to Clair de Musk than the White Musk oil. It also comes in an oil.

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by Ayala

To me Clair de Musc is more of a powdery musk rather than white. The white musk is a bit more metallic and "clean" smelling.

Absolutely! my boyfriends who loves and enjoys buying me Clair de Musc the most calls it 'Baby Powder'! "hmm you 're wearing your baby powder', it 's so cute to hear that!
he hates most of my other fragrances, for him Clair de Musc is definitely 100% worth buying
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Originally Posted by helg

Clair de Musc is very nice, a light vegetal musk, "clean". However I agree with your assesment that maybe it's too much money for what it is.

I read somewhere vegetal musk is rare and precious, would you know anything about it? the composition also says iris powder, do you identify it? I 'm not sure I do

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by Bois et Musc

I read somewhere vegetal musk is rare and precious, would you know anything about it? the composition also says iris powder, do you identify it? I 'm not sure I do

This would be Ambrette Seed. A type of hibiscus whose seeds have the scent most reminiscent of that of the rare deer's musk. It's beautiful and very gentle, similar to a baby's head scent, and skin in general. That's what most of us Natural Perfumers are using when we want to have that sweet and delicate musky base. I use it in many of my perfumes, particularly in Espionage, Tamya, Charisma, Rosebud and many of my other florals to lend a musky quality yet without using synthetics or harming the endangered deer.

Now Mr. Polge from Chanel has picked up on it for his Exclusifs and tells the world how rare and precious it is But we have been using it all along. Which also explains why natural perfumes are more expensive than synthetics (synthetic musk isn't expensive at all).

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by Ayala

This would be Ambrette Seed. A type of hibiscus whose seeds have the scent most reminiscent of that of the rare deer's musk. It's beautiful and very gentle, similar to a baby's head scent, and skin in general. That's what most of us Natural Perfumers are using when we want to have that sweet and delicate musky base. I use it in many of my perfumes, particularly in Espionage, Tamya, Charisma, Rosebud and many of my other florals to lend a musky quality yet without using synthetics or harming the endangered deer.

Now Mr. Polge from Chanel has picked up on it for his Exclusifs and tells the world how rare and precious it is But we have been using it all along. Which also explains why natural perfumes are more expensive than synthetics (synthetic musk isn't expensive at all).

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by Ayala

Now Mr. Polge from Chanel has picked up on it for his Exclusifs and tells the world how rare and precious it is But we have been using it all along. Which also explains why natural perfumes are more expensive than synthetics (synthetic musk isn't expensive at all).

Thanks for the informative comments, Ayala. I find it interesting that the recent article on the Chanel Exclusifs reads like a Creed article, i.e., lots of discussion on "natural ingredients", how expensive they are, and the various stories woven behind the perfumes.

Your nose must have more experience with natural ingredients than many of us here, so perhaps you can tell us whether the typical Chanel, Creed or Serge Lutens fragrance is composed of quality natural ingredients or not.

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by zztopp

Thanks for the informative comments, Ayala. I find it interesting that the recent article on the Chanel Exclusifs reads like a Creed article, i.e., lots of discussion on "natural ingredients", how expensive they are, and the various stories woven behind the perfumes.

Your nose must have more experience with natural ingredients than many of us here, so perhaps you can tell us whether the typical Chanel, Creed or Serge Lutens fragrance is composed of quality natural ingredients or not.

I will be attending the grand opening event of the Exclusifs at the Chanel boutique in Vancouver, and will let you know what I think about them (and their naturalness) after I smell them.

Most of the Caron and old Guerlain scents (up to Samsara, pretty much) have a very obvious natural presence, and it really "shows". And of course many of the classics from yesteryears, pre the dreadful oakmoss restrictions - i.e. Miss Dior, Eau Sauvage, Femme, and many of the vintages before they sold out to the mass marketing low-quality requirements. I just recently smelled Argepe and I can swear it was reformulated with less natural florals and more synthetic substitutes. It used to be my favourite aldehydic floral, but I don't know that I can enjoy it in its new incarnation.

In some niche houses, I can clearly recognize the presence of naturals and it definitley lends a different quality to the scents.

Most of the perfumes from Miller Harris smell like it has a lot of naturals. Serge Lutens uses many rich resins (i.e.: labdanum) and honey/absolutes absolute, but they are all pumped-up to a new intensity level with synthetics (I suspect in larger doses than most other companies normally use). It really depends on the scent of course (the Clair de Musc is mostly synthetic, while Fleur d'Oranger, Arabie, Cuir Mauresque and others smell like they have a healthy dose of naturals).

The oudh in the Montale line smells very authentic as well, but some scents smell more synthetic (i.e.: the gardenia one).

In Ormonde Jayne I smell more synthetics than in the two other lines mentioned. I think what makes a big difference is that the signature base in her line is very musky (a synthetic musk) and it really gives a more synthetic feeling, even though I am pretty sure she uses a lot of high quality floral essences in her line (the frangipani and champaca notes smell very authentic and true to the real floral absolutes).

From Creed, some are more natural than others, but most of the line smells not any more natural than most of the mainstream perfumes. Not any more than, say, J'Adore (which despite the fact they say there is real jasmine there, it mostly smells synthetic). Tabarome, Angelique Encens and Ambre Canelle struck me as the ones containing more naturals (than, say, Himalaya, Silver Mountain Water and others).

Quite a few of the Diptyques smell like they have lots of naturals (l'Eau in particular) - but some notes are impossible/dangerous to create naturally (i.e.: green figs; they are extremely irritating to the skin in their natural form! One of the few ingredients I actually agree about banning... the milk from the leaves and fruit is used to remove warts in Mediterranean folk medicine, and it's very effective - though terribly burning!).

And most of the Comptoir Sud Pacifique are highly synthetic, though absolutely delicious.

From Frederic Malle - I am certain Carnal Flower has a generous amount of real tuberose absolute (and so does Miller Harris Noix de Tubereuse, by the way). But they also use many unusual synthetics of course (for example in En Passant and the musk in Musc Ravageur).

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

the most natural line I ever smelled is Gobin Daude and it works because most of her scents have a botanical concept (Sous le Buis/under the box tree, Biche dans l 'absinthe/doe in absinthe and Seve/sap Exquise)

according to Serge Lutens there are horrible cheap natural raw ingredients that he would never want to work with and there are precious expensive synthetic notes that are incredible. (Tous les parfums de l 'Arabie french TV documentary)
wether working with natural or synthetics it s more about quality rather than just naturals alone.

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

The scent I find closest to CdM is called "Eau de Musc Blanc" de Rancé, it hasn't been on the market for a long time, and a big bottle (125ml) costs about 29€. I smell a little bit more iris in CdM, but the difference is so small that I actually asked myself why I bought it, LOL!!!

Re: Similar to Clair de Musc?

Originally Posted by jazztweety

The scent I find closest to CdM is called "Eau de Musc Blanc" de Rancé, it hasn't been on the market for a long time, and a big bottle (125ml) costs about 29€. I smell a little bit more iris in CdM, but the difference is so small that I actually asked myself why I bought it, LOL!!!

personnally I always saw a big difference with other musks, not in the top notes of course but Clair de Musc drydown is not like the other ones at all, more refined and complex, I also smell the rare and precious Mysore sandalwood in the drydown, not something that you would get with a generic musk.